A classic example i have noticed primarily in 2017 is the New South Wales Police Force and their social media strategy. They are able to successfully utilise meme culture in light of a serious topic, crime.
Through this, they are able to cleverly gain a base of followers to facilitate future online investigations.
In the same week, the page posted assistance from crime stoppers trying to get the follower base to identify multiple wanted men.
Even on serious posts, commenters still make reference to humour. For the moment, the NSW Police force is doing well by implementing memes in their social media marketing campaign to get attention despite a serious theme.
It is only a matter of time that a meme is poorly executed and it backfires – without necessary precautions. Whether that be a misunderstood meme, or one that causes a segment to become sensitive about a particular issue.
Perhaps, instead of flooding the feed with memes when they are not posting serious issues; they could refer to the 4 – 1 – 1 rule from Twitter social media marketing.
Memes in Marketing 